Asiacell Telecom Company ( ar, آسياسيل, ku, ئاسیاسێڵ) is an
Iraqi telecommunications company
A telephone company, also known as a telco, telephone service provider, or telecommunications operator, is a kind of communications service provider (CSP), more precisely a telecommunications service provider (TSP), that provides telecommunicat ...
that offers
mobile phone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive telephone call, calls over a radio freq ...
services and
Mobile Internet mainly in
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
.
History
Asiacell, the first mobile telecommunications company in Iraq, was established in the city of
Sulaymaniyah
Sulaymaniyah, also spelled as Slemani ( ku, سلێمانی, Silêmanî, ar, السليمانية, as-Sulaymāniyyah), is a city in the east of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, not far from the Iran–Iraq border. It is surrounded by the Azmar, ...
in the
Kurdistan Region
Kurdistan Region ( ku, هەرێمی کوردستان, translit=Herêmî Kurdistan; ar, إقليم كردستان), abbr. KRI, is an autonomous region in Iraq comprising the four Kurdish-majority governorates of Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Duhok ...
in 1999.
Asiacell began its first commercial operations in 2000.
In October 2003, Asiacell was granted a two-year GSM license for the six northern provinces of Iraq, catering in the process to a wider client base who collectively shared a need for a quality mobile network. The license was extended in 2005 to cover the entirety of the Iraqi Republic. Consequently, today it is the only telecom network to provide coverage nationwide.
In August 2007, Asiacell bid and won a 15-year national license, becoming the GSM telecom operator with the largest long-term network coverage in the country. The company's breakthrough successes have naturally led to its expansion and growth, thereby quickly reaching almost 2000 employees. The famous Kurdish singer
Chopy Fatah became the cultural ambassador of the company in 2008. To handle new business operations, Asiacell also simultaneously established new executive offices in Baghdad, Mosul, and other major cities in Iraq,
Today, the company caters to more than 9.1 million subscribers around the country.
On February 2, 2013, Asiacell went public offering 25% of its equity, in an IPO that was considered the largest in the MEANA region since 2008.
In April 2015, the Iraqi singer-songwriter
Kadhim Al-Saher became a representative of the brand.
In February 2017, the company began offering free access to Wikipedia for its customers, despite complications regarding Net Neutrality provisions.
See also
*
Korek Telecom
*
Zain Iraq
References
External links
*
Mobile phone companies of Iraq
Telecommunications in Asia
{{Asia-company-stub